Gone: Fabio Capello quit as England boss, paving the way for Redknapp to take over the reigns

It is for that reason this Englishman should be the first person the FA turn to in their search for a successor to Fabio Capello. After what Redknapp has been through, no aspect of the England job will  worry him.

He was exhausted on Wednesday, and understandably so after what was the biggest corruption case in modern English football. It offered a fascinating insight into the lives of the two men and provided lighter moments too.

‘They’re amazing these legal  people,’ whispered Redknapp at one stage as he looked across to the prosecution bench. ‘They’re so nice to you, all polite, and then suddenly they try to kill you.’

It was classic Redknapp, and there were other such moments as the story of a football man who had been anything but a ‘hard-headed businessman’ unfolded. It was the story of a life away from football that sounds a little chaotic, with millions seemingly squandered on impulsive business deals.

His now deceased bulldog Rosie became the most famous canine on the planet for the duration of the trial, that being the name he used for the account in Monaco. The 47 was not, as one television journalist is said to have remarked, a reference to the year the dog was born but the year its master was born.

Redknapp had the jury in stitches at times, not least when reflecting on the possibility that another ‘Rosie’ account in Monaco might have been named after somebody’s wife. ‘If she was half as nice as Rosie he’s got a good wife,’ Redknapp mused.

Leading the prosecution, John Black QC wasted no time in referring to the dirtiest word in football. That ‘f*****g sick word’ as Redknapp put it in the taped interview with News of the World reporter Rob Beasley. Black said the  payments amounted to a ‘bung’. The court heard how two payments, totalling $295,000, were the product of a dispute over the  transfer of Peter Crouch from  Portsmouth to Aston Villa in 2002.

Redknapp had demanded 10 per cent of the net profit from the transfer because that had been the terms of his contract as the director of football when he recruited Crouch. Those terms changed when he became manager and Redknapp was due five per cent.

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